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"Real Love" Week 4 - Advent 2025 Series

Episode 97 of the True North Church podcast, hosted by True North Church, titled ""Real Love" Week 4 - Advent 2025 Series" was published on December 22, 2025 and runs 42 minutes.

December 22, 2025 ·42m · True North Church

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The angels didn’t announce a feeling — they announced a Person.

In Week 4 of Advent, we light the Angel’s Candle and lean into a truth that reshapes how we understand love: God doesn’t send love… He becomes it. Drawing from Luke 2:8–14 and Jesus’ words in John 15:13, this message reveals that biblical love isn’t sentimental or shallow — it’s incarnational, self-giving, and costly.

From the manger to the cross, Scripture shows us that love is proven not by words, but by wounds. This is agape love — love that bleeds, love that lays itself down, love that moves toward people instead of away from pain. Written to a church under pressure, John’s reminder still speaks powerfully to our moment today: the answer to fear, false gods, and fading loyalty has always been love shaped like a cross.

Christmas isn’t soft — it’s strategic. The wood of the manger points forward to the wood of the cross. And the God who put on flesh and laid Himself in a feeding trough is still stepping into ordinary, messy places today.

Is there a “manger” in your life where you need God to dwell? This message invites you to see love clearly, receive it deeply, and live it boldly.

True North Church Midrand True North Church Midrand True North Church is a multicultural, urban community of faith that finds its foundation in Jesus and lives out the countercultural requirements that He makes of His adherents. We are a church for all people from all walks of life that have decided to make Johannesburg their home.We are.......a church that is Reflective, in that we desire to be reflective of the community around us but also our country;....a church that is Relevant to the people and community around us with the message of the Gospel;....a church that is Responsible in how we teach God’s Word but also in being salt and lig True North High School Ministry Compass Bible Church We Exist to Engage Students with the Saving Gospel of JesusWe Exist to Equip Students with a Biblical WorldviewWe Exist to Train Students to Make More Disciples for JesusWe Exist to Connect Students with a Community of Serious-Minded Christians True North Insight: Rick Hanson's most recent Dharma talks via dharmaseed.org I first encountered Buddhism in 1974, and it blew the doors wide open for me with its profound and practical insights into the mind, suffering, and true happiness. Over time I gravitated to the original teachings of the Buddha, embodied in the Theravadan tradition, for their down-to-earth clarity, and important sources for me have included the teachers of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Pali Canon itself. More recently, I've explored grounding the dharma in modern evolutionary neuropsychology - "neurodharma" - recognizing how mind arises dependently upon the body, especially the nervous system as it tries to meet ancient needs for raw survival. I am especially interested in using these approaches to heighten the learning - the cultivation (bhavana) - from beneficial experiences (otherwise often wasted on the brain) to reduce the underlying sense of deficit and disturbance that causes the craving that causes suffering and harm. Overall, I feel amazingly blessed to have the opportu True North Podcast with Chris Quiring Chris Quiring Finding truth in a culture of confusion. Real conversations about what really matters, helping you grow in your relationship with God.
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